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Raise the Red Lantern Reviews
Unforgettable Movie... this movie pulls you into the story. Great acting and very realistic settings. Love it
It starts off as melodrama but ends like a horror movie. Love the shooting location which is like a claustrophobic labyrinth.
The Red Lantern was the symbol of the master being in a mistresses house...and these 4 ladies are in a battle - for significance, worth, companionship. The old school chinese system is brutally put on display. And even though its slow, it's a great story.
Well-done but sad Chinese film which shows the fruitless lives of wife and concubines of a rich man in the 1920s. We watch the latest woman go through her first year in this household where the females must compete for the master's attention.
So exquisite. One of my all-time favorite films.
It starts off as melodrama but ends like a horror movie. Love the shooting location which is like a claustrophobic labyrinth.
They don't make films like this anymore in China. It's beautiful and one of the best films made by the 5th generation directors.
Combining limited scale and sumptuous visuals, Raise the Red Lantern is one of the great cinematic adaptations of the 'gilded birdcage' premise. A psychological torture chamber that adopts the skin of a melodrama, Zhang produces a scathing critique of social norms and gender roles at a time when doing so was formally frowned upon by the Chinese state, resulting in temporary censorship. Women are lured into a polygamous matrimony with the promise of fine silks and an easy lifestyle, only to be find themselves in a pit of vipers as they are forced to compete with one another for the affections of a husband who is focused purely on tradition and lust with a face left deliberately obscured for the entire length of the film. Though a bit heavy-handed in its narrative with 30 years of gender-focused film building on its foundations (Gong's Songlian is forced to leave an education behind to be married off into a traditional household), the film is powerful in its simplicity and visually beautiful. Notably, the screenplay doesn't leave characters exclusively as one-note as they could have, incorporating some degree of engaging subterfuge that goes beyond their superficial role; the deceitfully compassionate second mistress Zhuoyun is a particular favorite, her betrayal reminds me of Park Chan-wook's The Handmaiden. Admittedly a bit obvious in theme decades down the line, Raise the Red Lantern is still a classic of 'modern' Chinese film that delivers excellent performances, expert cinematography, and subversive themes for its time. (4/5)
A bit melodramatic but really well done.
Este filme incomparavelmente bonito acelera e escurece em um drama fascinante de polÃtica sexual em uma ï¿ 1/2 (C)poca em que as mulheres eram pouco mais que prisioneiros mimadosuma alegoria, mas tambï¿ 1/2 (C)m simboliza o seu tema com uma fotografia belÃssima
大红ç?¯ç¬ 1/4é«~é«~æ, in Chinese Characters
For me the beauty of this film resides in the fact that despite being aseptic and claustrophobic, is packed of emotions. Not long into the movie you will fall in love with the amazing visuals, and soon enough you will be entangled in the complicated net of feelings and emotions. Really must be in any "must watch" list.
1001 movies to see before you die.
This is amazing for about the first two-thirds, and I really appreciate the director's daring in plunging you straight into the action with almost no backstory, leaving you as perplexed as the new young wife herself, who's trying to find a way to survive and prosper amidst all the arcane customs and complex relationships (especially with the other women) in her new household. However I found the last third of the film a bit disappointing - the earlier subtleties give way to some rather cheap melodrama and the behaviour of the young bride makes it hard to retain sympathy with her to the end.
There are certain aspects of Raise the Red Lantern that I thought were great. There was a fair amount of intrigue and complexity in the relationships. I liked how they start by presenting the traditions that run this household and then show how the wives find ways to manipulate the traditions to get their way. The master of the house becomes a mere pawn that they move around whenever they desire. The director came close to never even showing the master, and I think that would have been awesome because he was such a non-character in the film. As for our protagonist, I kept hoping that Songlian would figure it all out. I was expecting her to be the clever one who discovered all the loopholes in the system, so that she could become the power player. Sadly, it doesn't seem like that is quite the story they wanted to tell. It left me frustrated with the story, and annoyed that the ending was so lackluster. I wanted more at the end, but it just quit without resolving much. The film is, like most of Zhang Yimou's work, beautiful. It has a number of gorgeous visual moments and he utilizes colorful items in order to accentuate the visuals. I don't think Raise the Red Lantern was quite my kind of film, but it was certainly worth watching.
One of the most beautifully shot, superbly acted, and enthralling dramas ever made, "Raise the Red Lantern" is a cinematic masterpiece.
Beautifully realized, with immaculate cinematography, costumes, hair and makeup, Raise the Red Lantern provides a glimpse into a closed world. It's subtle, but the film also has layers of feminist and political commentary that run through the beautiful image. Exile, the home and power are central to the film that puts wives against husband, servants against wives and of course wives against wives. It's an intricate dance as the women all vie for the little sliver of power allowed to them. Gong Li is phenomenal, dominating the screen, leaving no doubt why she is one of the most successful and famous actresses of her generation. This is her film as muh as it is director's Zhang Yimou's.
An incredibly crafted and atmospheric story about the harsh realities of being a woman in early 20th century China (and, by extension, modern-day China).